Mecha Workshop Armarauders – New Company, Toys, Comics!

Mecha Workshop sent out a press release today, officially launching their new company, toy line, and comic series. The project is called Armarauders – it will feature a highly detailed line of action figures, vehicles and mecha. To run along with that, web and motion comics will tie directly into the figure releases, for free!

Art for the comics, along with design and concept art, is being handled by none other than fan favorite Don Figueroa of Transformers fame.

STATUS: WEB COMIC AND MOTION COMIC WILL BOTH BE AVAILABLE TO VIEW ONLINE FOR FREE

LAUNCH SEQUENCE: ONLINE COMIC WILL BE RELEASED IN WAVES

EACH WAVE OF THE WEB COMIC WILL CONSIST OF SEVEN PAGES

MOTION COMIC WILL BE RELEASED IN BETWEEN EACH WAVE OF THE WEB COMIC

TWO ACTION-PACKED STORY-ARCS ARE CURRENTLY PLANNED

EACH STORY-ARC CONSISTS OF SIX ISSUES

EACH ISSUE CONTAINS TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES

PUBLISHED COMIC BOOK EDITIONS WILL BE RELEASED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE TOY LINE

MECHA WORKSHOP - ARMARAUDERS
ARMARAUDERS: THE LAST BATTALION
A PRELUDE TO WAR

The people of Earth had become a hazard unto themselves. The population levels outpaced the food supply, precious resources had been spent, and their planet’s environment was fouled to dangerous levels. Many nations were eying neighboring lands with conquest in mind, and a vicious global war seemed inevitable.

Like an all too convenient prayer, the Runerians came. Although their starships arrived at Earth as broken hulks with the scars of battle, the technology they represented was far beyond that of humankind. A species of pacifists, the Runerians (aka “Runeks”) arrived in the name of peace… but also with a warning—

The Wasters were coming.

The Wasters were an alien species of conquerors. They despoiled planets for resources, technology, and slaves—destroying all which was not of use to them. The Runeks had fled their own planet, Runera, being apparently ill suited to defend against the onslaught. Many Runerian starships—unable to make the voyage—self-destructed rather than allow their species’ advanced technology to fall into such brutal hands.

In exchange for sanctuary and protection, the Runerians shared their knowledge with the humans. Mankind quickly adapted to these new gifts. Mining colonies were established on Earth’s moon—as well as the two moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos—for new raw materials. Machinery capable of turning raw energy into food alleviated the problems of starvation. As to the problem of over-population… the Wasters, themselves, helped solve that.

For the Wasters were soon upon them. The Runerians' more advanced technology allowed them to arrive significantly before the Waster horde, giving Earth enough time to prepare for the impending threat; it was barely enough. Millions of lives were lost. Entire cities were obliterated. Yet, the humans held their ground. Using weapons originally designed to attack each other, humanity held the line, and in a glorious victory, saved planet Earth from destruction.

In a brief span of years, humanity had gone from utter ruin, to a self-sufficient planet able to maintain its current population. But with the Waster armada defeated, humanity shifted its focus to the alien refuges. Some humans, seeing the Runerians as saviors, looked to them as if they were gods. But many more looked upon them with hatred—a focus of blame for the Waster invasion. Some even suggested that the Runerians had visited Earth in the past, and that they had caused mankind to fall into the state Earth was in when the Runerians arrived. The Runerians did little to dissuade such negatively, many actively stating that they looked upon humans as violent, coarse, and uncivilized.

A decision was made, and a pact between nations was formed. Rather than fight a defensive war, waiting for the next attack, Earth would take the fight to the Wasters. Just as Earth had learned peaceful technology from the Runerians, they studied the Wasters’ technology, and learned of war. Giant mechanical assault vehicles were constructed, mimicking the humanoid physiology of its pilots. The first goal of the new mech units was to reclaim the planet Runera for their new allies. But goals are easier stated than accomplished.

MECHA WORKSHOP - ARMARAUDERS
FULL GEAR BELLEROPHON: CAM’S SPECIAL

Mech fans…your voices have been heard. A new mech action-figure for a new era marches your way. MECHA WORKSHOP presents the Bellerphon Mechs of ARMAURADERS: THE LAST BATTALION!

MECHA WORKSHOP is proud to announce an all-new line of action figures featuring the Bellerphon mech. With a committed attention to detail and included accessories, the highly articulated Bellerphon is sure to impress the most dedicated Mech enthusiasts and scrupulous toy collectors alike.

The first to answer the call to duty is the Full Gear Bellerophon: Cam’s Special. Piloted by Private First Class Cameron Knox, this Bellerophon Infantry Mech represents the core in which to build a Mech army.

In a war against an alien threat that spans the galaxy, a soldier must adapt, alter, and conform as needed in order to survive and prevail. Named after the hero of Greek mythology who slew the monstrous Chimera, the Bellerphon is designed to function as a multi-purpose and highly mobile infantry unit—an ultra-advanced mech that serves as both grunt and warhorse against the onslaught of a relentless enemy. With the addition of specially designed optional equipment, the Bellerphon serves as a “jack of all trades” on the battlefield, and can be called upon to serve on a wide range of specialty missions.

With the Bellerophon Mech serving as the core in which to build upon and modify, special add-on equipment such as armor, backpacks, and weapons, make the infantry unit highly adaptable for any battlefield—be it land, air, sea, or space.

MECHA WORKSHOP will first release the Full Gear Bellerophon: Cam’s Special, and it will come equipped with custom full gear armor. A later release will be the Pegasus Drone. This “triple-change” add-on to the Bellerophon Mech for air combat is designed to provide flight capabilities when attached in Jet-Pack mode, as well as serve as a Drone-Turret or Jet.

The Bellerophon is just one component of a highly versatile Mech army that toy collectors and Mech enthusiasts will want to expand upon. Future releases will see additional Mechs with unique functions and capabilities—such as being able to combine and/or reconfigure into additional Mech designs—to face a wide array of enemies no matter where the battlefield may be.

The Bellerphon mech is the vital key to overcome impossible odds and live to fight another day. Be sure to view the Bellerphon Mech in action and check out the exclusive free-to-view online webcomic and motion comic presented by MECHA WORKSHOP—ARMARUADERS: THE LAST BATTALION.

Considering this thing is close to a foot tall, I'd say it'd be at LEAST 60 bucks. Take that, and the fact that this is being produced by a smaller company and you can double that price. Adding in that articulation, as well? I'd say about 150$ as an estimate. But damned if that isn't cool.

We'd like to encourage "troop" building, so the pricing gotta be right.
Don't wish to force feed anyone with tons of repaints and whatnot.
And remember, having to finally get your hands on a rare toy and only to have it reissued later on? Thus, screwing up the value of your first run?
Our first run will always be a little more special.

Trust me, Don as a toy enthusiast himself knows of all your burdens.
Both Don and I share pretty much the same experience when we were young.
Having to look into a toy store without being able to afford the toy we wanted (Mine was a DX God Mars) I/We love combiners

Pricing and size have been a much discussed topic, and we'll do our very best to balance both. Trust me when I say that all of us only want the best for the toy community, especially Don. This being his "baby" project, he has no intention of screwing toy collectors/enthusiast up in any way.

We've a few tricks up our sleeves that we cannot reveal as of yet.
It's not because we're playing the marketing game.
It's just that it's still in an early stage of development and might not work.

And I'm not being bias when I say that his later designs(Story Arc-2) are so awesome that... they're outright freaky.
Some took him weeks to design, some even close to a month.

We're not forcing anyone to buy the comic nor the toy, would really appreciate it if you guys would just give this first issue a chance. And since it's free ;P I'll be the first to say that you'll notice that his artwork improves going further down the pages. This is something new, so he has to "warm-up".

And Enrico is an awesome colorist. Just wait till you see his colors nearing pages 18ish.

I'm so sick of not being able to afford the ridiculously expensive Mech stuff that's made over seas. so it's nice to know this stuff will be handles by folks who know our pain and by "our" I mean us poor folk.

holy crap lol I been on this site since 2008 and this is my first post? What's wrong with me?

We'd like to encourage "troop" building, so the pricing gotta be right.
Don't wish to force feed anyone with tons of repaints and whatnot.
And remember, having to finally get your hands on a rare toy and only to have it reissued later on? Thus, screwing up the value of your first run?
Our first run will always be a little more special.

Trust me, Don as a toy enthusiast himself knows of all your burdens.
Both Don and I share pretty much the same experience when we were young.
Having to look into a toy store without being able to afford the toy we wanted (Mine was a DX God Mars) I/We love combiners

Pricing and size have been a much discussed topic, and we'll do our very best to balance both. Trust me when I say that all of us only want the best for the toy community, especially Don. This being his "baby" project, he has no intention of screwing toy collectors/enthusiast up in any way.

We've a few tricks up our sleeves that we cannot reveal as of yet.
It's not because we're playing the marketing game.
It's just that it's still in an early stage of development and might not work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Taylor

And, having finally gotten the designs delivered from Don in my email inbox I can't wait to write these bad boys into action.

Welcome aboard guys! Glad to see this happen, I've seen a number of startups come and go without even a sight of prototypes, but here you guys come already with some decked out and looking pretty far along! Toys like these have a lot of passion behind them. Eager to see more and being that you guys are toy fans as well as DON, I'm sure these will be a joy to handle.

Glad Don has a lot of control too, from what I remember, when he worked with Hasbro for the WWI Titaniums they didn't turn out the way he envisioned.

We'd like to encourage "troop" building, so the pricing gotta be right.
Don't wish to force feed anyone with tons of repaints and whatnot.
And remember, having to finally get your hands on a rare toy and only to have it reissued later on? Thus, screwing up the value of your first run?
Our first run will always be a little more special.

Trust me, Don as a toy enthusiast himself knows of all your burdens.
Both Don and I share pretty much the same experience when we were young.
Having to look into a toy store without being able to afford the toy we wanted (Mine was a DX God Mars) I/We love combiners

Pricing and size have been a much discussed topic, and we'll do our very best to balance both. Trust me when I say that all of us only want the best for the toy community, especially Don. This being his "baby" project, he has no intention of screwing toy collectors/enthusiast up in any way.

We've a few tricks up our sleeves that we cannot reveal as of yet.
It's not because we're playing the marketing game.
It's just that it's still in an early stage of development and might not work.

Troop building these things? It's as if you write with pure honey!
IF what you say is true...then these little wonders will be affordable? Bravo.
I hope this succeeds. I really do.